I wrote this poem a few years ago and just found it in a book the other day. I had forgotten about it.
Weeping
The trees are weeping
Their brethren have fallen
Their roots entwined deep in earth
Clasping as hands and trembling
Where is the sun they cried!
What will become of us beneath the surface?
The fallen trees lament, where are our roots?
They huddle in stacks beneath the sky, no anchor to hold them tall
How funny the sky looks from this angle
Where are my branches, my leaves, my birds?
What is progress?
Roots with no trees, trees with no roots?
Where will the songbirds go?
Why are trees weeping in piles of progress
Viewing the clouds askew
Their ancient spirit subdued for naught, they silently cry out
Forests should be vast and green
Roots deeply anchored
Branches should whisper of fairies and raindrops
Then the trees would not be weeping
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Where does the time go?
Hard to believe I haven't blogged since April. It is now July. What up? Where does the time go?? I have taken a new direction with my writing. I returned to the YA story I started back in the fall that I envisioned as a kid's TV show but started writing as a book. I have done a lot of research, wrote several chapters of the story, character development etc. Now I have decided to write it as a screenplay instead of a book. Oh Joy. I guess all these things are part of the process. Finding your passion, your niche. I haven't given up on the other story I started involving geese but since I envision it as an animated movie that will probably also be written as a screenplay. I've signed up for a screenwriter's networking event this month and I signed up for a one-on-one script consultant. Seriously there are no more excuses allowed. Time to work!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
My plan needs a plan
My plan to blog every week has not materialized. My plan to write every day has also not been achieved. I ask myself what is going on with me. I have been able to read several more children's books and viewed a few movies made from those books. The most recent book, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. I got the animated movie from Netflix yesterday. Not enough to feel like I accomplished much. I've detoured from my plan. It's time for a new plan.
I attended a writer's seminar a few weeks ago on a Wednesday night with Brian Howie through The Better Class. The cost was $20. Brian originally started a novel and wrote a screenplay instead. He sold his first one. He refers to him writing screenplays as "cheating". Write the dialogue and state "hi-jinks ensue". Let the director figure it out. He now publishes non-fiction books, the most recent is Debt U. I learned more in those two hours than I could have imagined. Some of the things we covered is how the book distribution and publishing industry has changed with the advent of Amazon.com. It is easier to sell a screenplay than a book as Hollywood has more money to spend. You need to be able to do your own marketing. You can publish an e-book on Amazon and in a few months keep more of the profits. That is just a few gems. We also talked about the fact that you must WRITE!
So if you aren't writing you need to find a away to write. If you can't seem to write your book, write SOMETHING. Other suggestions included leaving your house and going to another location like it is your job to go there and write. I have found a few places this could be possible. Amelie's French Bakery in NoDa, a library, several coffee shops and Refuel@24/7. Things I looked for: noise level, background music, peak times, parking, cost of drinks/food, comfort, free wireless internet.
Today was my first day to implement this new plan. HA! I set the alarm for 7 am. Proceeded to lay in bed until 8:30. Yes I stayed up too late last night trying to watch some shows on Hulu. My bad. Then I drank my agni tea, took a shower, got dressed. So I was not at a new venue writing at 9 am. Then I decided to hose the gross yellow pollen off my front porch and car, then I watered houseplants, fed the cats, cleaned litter boxes, took out the trash, organized all my stuff by the door. This included my purse, phone, laptop with power cord, mouse, headset, notebook, two children's books, cut apple slices, etc. Then I washed hands, put my hair in a pony tail, changed shirt and left the house. Got in the car and couldn't find my phone or glasses. Went back in the house. Found the glasses, the phone was in my laptop bag in the car. Arrrgh! I pulled into Amelie's parking lot at 10:30. Of course I ordered a small decaf coffee and the guy behind the counter queried in that make you feel guilty tone of voice "is that all"? So I bought 2 flaky, buttery, sugary treats too. Cost: $4. Not too bad. Most of the tables and couches were taken so I settled by a window and realized it was too bright so I moved to the table behind me. Within a very short time the place filled up, it's spring break here so lots of mom with kids, baby buggies and such. Seven moms & young daughters crammed into the corner table near me causing passerbys to constantly bump into my table as there was very little room for them to pass through. They left and another large family took their place. The noise level is a little high. Music is OK. I spent way too much time checking emails and Facebook. Its after 1:00. I'm sitting in a wooden chair so I my butt is numb. Maybe not any more numb than my desk chair at home. Over all not bad for the first morning. I planned on going home for lunch and trying a different venue this afternoon.
New plan: write for 8 hours several days a week. Preferably Tues, Wed, Thurs. Write for at least 4 hours on Friday and Monday. That leaves Sat & Sunday for chores and socializing. Set priorities and stick to the plan. Read at least 2 children's books a week. Also make sure to fit walking to the park into the schedule to counteract all that sitting at the laptop.
I attended a writer's seminar a few weeks ago on a Wednesday night with Brian Howie through The Better Class. The cost was $20. Brian originally started a novel and wrote a screenplay instead. He sold his first one. He refers to him writing screenplays as "cheating". Write the dialogue and state "hi-jinks ensue". Let the director figure it out. He now publishes non-fiction books, the most recent is Debt U. I learned more in those two hours than I could have imagined. Some of the things we covered is how the book distribution and publishing industry has changed with the advent of Amazon.com. It is easier to sell a screenplay than a book as Hollywood has more money to spend. You need to be able to do your own marketing. You can publish an e-book on Amazon and in a few months keep more of the profits. That is just a few gems. We also talked about the fact that you must WRITE!
So if you aren't writing you need to find a away to write. If you can't seem to write your book, write SOMETHING. Other suggestions included leaving your house and going to another location like it is your job to go there and write. I have found a few places this could be possible. Amelie's French Bakery in NoDa, a library, several coffee shops and Refuel@24/7. Things I looked for: noise level, background music, peak times, parking, cost of drinks/food, comfort, free wireless internet.
Today was my first day to implement this new plan. HA! I set the alarm for 7 am. Proceeded to lay in bed until 8:30. Yes I stayed up too late last night trying to watch some shows on Hulu. My bad. Then I drank my agni tea, took a shower, got dressed. So I was not at a new venue writing at 9 am. Then I decided to hose the gross yellow pollen off my front porch and car, then I watered houseplants, fed the cats, cleaned litter boxes, took out the trash, organized all my stuff by the door. This included my purse, phone, laptop with power cord, mouse, headset, notebook, two children's books, cut apple slices, etc. Then I washed hands, put my hair in a pony tail, changed shirt and left the house. Got in the car and couldn't find my phone or glasses. Went back in the house. Found the glasses, the phone was in my laptop bag in the car. Arrrgh! I pulled into Amelie's parking lot at 10:30. Of course I ordered a small decaf coffee and the guy behind the counter queried in that make you feel guilty tone of voice "is that all"? So I bought 2 flaky, buttery, sugary treats too. Cost: $4. Not too bad. Most of the tables and couches were taken so I settled by a window and realized it was too bright so I moved to the table behind me. Within a very short time the place filled up, it's spring break here so lots of mom with kids, baby buggies and such. Seven moms & young daughters crammed into the corner table near me causing passerbys to constantly bump into my table as there was very little room for them to pass through. They left and another large family took their place. The noise level is a little high. Music is OK. I spent way too much time checking emails and Facebook. Its after 1:00. I'm sitting in a wooden chair so I my butt is numb. Maybe not any more numb than my desk chair at home. Over all not bad for the first morning. I planned on going home for lunch and trying a different venue this afternoon.
New plan: write for 8 hours several days a week. Preferably Tues, Wed, Thurs. Write for at least 4 hours on Friday and Monday. That leaves Sat & Sunday for chores and socializing. Set priorities and stick to the plan. Read at least 2 children's books a week. Also make sure to fit walking to the park into the schedule to counteract all that sitting at the laptop.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The Case of the Shampooed Cat
While I was at Barnes & Noble this Christmas wrapping books for donations for The Friends of Feral Felines, I heard some really funny and heartwarming cat stories from customers. I was very pleased at how many people told me their cat or cats were rescued ferals. The one story that stuck in my mind is a particularly charming tale and so I thought I would recount it for everyone. Unfortunately I did not get the woman’s name so I will have to improvise names and embellish the details for all involved in the tale of The Case of the Shampooed Cat.
Our heroine, we’ll call her Margaret, had rescued two female feral cats near her home. Occasionally she let the cats outside to play but they always came back in when called. The older cat, Emily, wore a black collar and the younger one, Lilly, wore a red one. Emily had already been spayed but Lilly had not. Margaret told her teenage son, we’ll call him Todd, to be very careful not to let Lilly outside when he left for school one morning. Margaret was upstairs trying to get ready for her day when she heard her son leave. A while later she went downstairs to clean up the kitchen. Tidying up the sink she looked out the window into her backyard.
To her dismay she saw her Lilly in an intimate embrace with the neighborhood scoundrel! Shocked, she vowed to have words with Todd later. She waited until the two cats said their farewells and she went to the door and sweetly called Lilly to come in the house. I’m sure it was more like “You hussy, get your tramp cat butt in this house right now!” Well you can imagine Lilly shamefully skulked into the house avoiding eye contact with Margaret.
Once in the kitchen an unexpected confrontation ensued. Not between Margaret and Lily but between Lilly and Emily. At once Emily started hissing and went for the jugular on Lilly. Margaret frantically tried to get them apart wondering what would cause Emily to attack Lilly when they normally got along so well. She separated them and put Lilly in a bathroom and Emily in a bedroom. Not understanding what just occurred, she called her friend and told her what happened. Her friend, we’ll call her Sarah, said “Oh Emily probably smells the male cat’s scent on Lilly so you should give her a bath”.
Sounded like good advice so Margaret decided to wait until her daughter got home to help her with the cat bath. Several hours later Margaret’s daughter, we’ll call her Tina, arrived home and after hearing the whole sordid story agreed to help bathe Lilly. They cautiously entered the bathroom where Lilly was contained, still looking ashamed of herself for her torrid love affair and fur flying girl fight. Or maybe she was miffed only because she had gotten caught in her lover’s paws. One never knows what cats are really thinking.
Margaret and Tina ignored Lilly’s protests, took off the red collar and proceeded to give her a bath, which to say the least, did not go very well. We’ll censor the verbal spewing from the bathing episode as to not offend anyone. Once bathed and being towel dried, Margaret asked Tina to hand her the cat’s collar. Tina picked up the red collar and looked at it. “Mom”, she said, “I don’t think this is Lilly’s collar”.
They looked at each other. They looked at the angry cat wrapped in the towel. They looked at the red collar. They looked at the cat again. They both cried out “This isn’t our cat!” Hysterical laughter erupted. After they placed the red collar back on the mystery cat they released her out the back door from whence she came. She took off through the yard as if shot from a cannon, happy to escape the crazy house. You can hear Aretha Franklin singing “Freedom, Freedom, Freedom, yeah!”
The real Lilly, wearing her red collar, was found sleeping under a bed quite content and unaware of the previous drama. She only protested slightly when hugged and fussed over as if she had been lost for days. She got some cat treats out of the ordeal and went back under the bed. Emily, formally forgotten in her prison bedroom, ate her treats slowly and looked at Margaret with disdain as if to say “I was right, you were wrong”. She whined, moaned and proceeded to give everyone the touch-me-not treatment for two days.
Still to this day Margaret would have liked to have seen the reaction of the visiting cat’s real owner when she made it back home, missing for hours, damp and smelling of fresh shampoo.
Our heroine, we’ll call her Margaret, had rescued two female feral cats near her home. Occasionally she let the cats outside to play but they always came back in when called. The older cat, Emily, wore a black collar and the younger one, Lilly, wore a red one. Emily had already been spayed but Lilly had not. Margaret told her teenage son, we’ll call him Todd, to be very careful not to let Lilly outside when he left for school one morning. Margaret was upstairs trying to get ready for her day when she heard her son leave. A while later she went downstairs to clean up the kitchen. Tidying up the sink she looked out the window into her backyard.
To her dismay she saw her Lilly in an intimate embrace with the neighborhood scoundrel! Shocked, she vowed to have words with Todd later. She waited until the two cats said their farewells and she went to the door and sweetly called Lilly to come in the house. I’m sure it was more like “You hussy, get your tramp cat butt in this house right now!” Well you can imagine Lilly shamefully skulked into the house avoiding eye contact with Margaret.
Once in the kitchen an unexpected confrontation ensued. Not between Margaret and Lily but between Lilly and Emily. At once Emily started hissing and went for the jugular on Lilly. Margaret frantically tried to get them apart wondering what would cause Emily to attack Lilly when they normally got along so well. She separated them and put Lilly in a bathroom and Emily in a bedroom. Not understanding what just occurred, she called her friend and told her what happened. Her friend, we’ll call her Sarah, said “Oh Emily probably smells the male cat’s scent on Lilly so you should give her a bath”.
Sounded like good advice so Margaret decided to wait until her daughter got home to help her with the cat bath. Several hours later Margaret’s daughter, we’ll call her Tina, arrived home and after hearing the whole sordid story agreed to help bathe Lilly. They cautiously entered the bathroom where Lilly was contained, still looking ashamed of herself for her torrid love affair and fur flying girl fight. Or maybe she was miffed only because she had gotten caught in her lover’s paws. One never knows what cats are really thinking.
Margaret and Tina ignored Lilly’s protests, took off the red collar and proceeded to give her a bath, which to say the least, did not go very well. We’ll censor the verbal spewing from the bathing episode as to not offend anyone. Once bathed and being towel dried, Margaret asked Tina to hand her the cat’s collar. Tina picked up the red collar and looked at it. “Mom”, she said, “I don’t think this is Lilly’s collar”.
They looked at each other. They looked at the angry cat wrapped in the towel. They looked at the red collar. They looked at the cat again. They both cried out “This isn’t our cat!” Hysterical laughter erupted. After they placed the red collar back on the mystery cat they released her out the back door from whence she came. She took off through the yard as if shot from a cannon, happy to escape the crazy house. You can hear Aretha Franklin singing “Freedom, Freedom, Freedom, yeah!”
The real Lilly, wearing her red collar, was found sleeping under a bed quite content and unaware of the previous drama. She only protested slightly when hugged and fussed over as if she had been lost for days. She got some cat treats out of the ordeal and went back under the bed. Emily, formally forgotten in her prison bedroom, ate her treats slowly and looked at Margaret with disdain as if to say “I was right, you were wrong”. She whined, moaned and proceeded to give everyone the touch-me-not treatment for two days.
Still to this day Margaret would have liked to have seen the reaction of the visiting cat’s real owner when she made it back home, missing for hours, damp and smelling of fresh shampoo.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Long Time No Write
Its been quite a while since I blogged anything. It has been a busy few months with the holidays. I also visited NM and PA. I am chairperson on a ball committee so I had to research and write content for the new website. And of course I'm still trying to re-enter the work force for a steady paycheck. I read a ridiculous amount of books too. Mostly Young Adult/Young Reader's Children books. If they were made into movie, I watched the movie too. Its amazing what you can accomplish when you give up TV!
Here they are not in any particular order:
Larklight -Phillip Reeve
Sirena -Donna Jo Napoli
Howl's Moving Castle -Diana Wynne Jones (Animated movie)
The City of Ember -Jeanne DuPrau (movie)
Savvy -Ingrid Law
Dragon Slippers - Jessica Day George
The Wee Free Men -Terry Pratchett
Tamsin -Peter S. Beagle
Fablehaven Book One -Brandon Mull
The Old Country -Mordicai Gerstein
Water Tales (two short stories)-Alice Hoffman (Aquamarine movie)
The Great Cheese Conspiracy -Jean Van Leeuwen
The Immortals Wild Magic -Tamora Pierce
The Immortals Wolf-Speaker -Tamora Pierce
The Immortals Emperor Mage -Tamora Pierce
The Immortals The Realms of the Gods -Tamora Pierce
Twilight -Stephanie Meyers (movie)
New Moon -Stephanie Meyers (movie)
Eclipse -Stephanie Meyers
Breaking Dawn -Stephanie Meyers
Jonathan Livingston Seagull -Richard Bach
The Moorchild -Eloise McGraw
The Castle in the Attic -Elizabeth Winthrop
Little Bo -Julie Andrews Edwards (yes the Julie Andrews)
I've started The Great Tree of Avalon by T.A. Baron but put it aside before Christmas. I think I needed a break from reading. I have a few other books started too, Harry Potter 5, Good Omens and a Paul Gallico collection of his classic short stories including The Snow Goose.
I found two of the books in the City of Ember series at a used bookstore so I am excited to see how that story continues. The movie based on the first book was OK. It could have been better. It is funny how Hollywood changes the story from the book for the movie. Not a fan of the changing stuff, I have to say.
I plan to continue my education of reading other author's books. It certainly has inspired me to write more. To wander bookstores visualizing my future book on the new release table up front or picture where my book would be on the shelf alphabetically. The week before Christmas I volunteered to gift wrap books for charity at a well known bookstore. One day a woman bought 22 books for a church group. So as I was wrapping all of them I imagined that one day someone would buy 22 copies of my book too. Very empowering.
I really must clean these glasses!
Here they are not in any particular order:
Larklight -Phillip Reeve
Sirena -Donna Jo Napoli
Howl's Moving Castle -Diana Wynne Jones (Animated movie)
The City of Ember -Jeanne DuPrau (movie)
Savvy -Ingrid Law
Dragon Slippers - Jessica Day George
The Wee Free Men -Terry Pratchett
Tamsin -Peter S. Beagle
Fablehaven Book One -Brandon Mull
The Old Country -Mordicai Gerstein
Water Tales (two short stories)-Alice Hoffman (Aquamarine movie)
The Great Cheese Conspiracy -Jean Van Leeuwen
The Immortals Wild Magic -Tamora Pierce
The Immortals Wolf-Speaker -Tamora Pierce
The Immortals Emperor Mage -Tamora Pierce
The Immortals The Realms of the Gods -Tamora Pierce
Twilight -Stephanie Meyers (movie)
New Moon -Stephanie Meyers (movie)
Eclipse -Stephanie Meyers
Breaking Dawn -Stephanie Meyers
Jonathan Livingston Seagull -Richard Bach
The Moorchild -Eloise McGraw
The Castle in the Attic -Elizabeth Winthrop
Little Bo -Julie Andrews Edwards (yes the Julie Andrews)
I've started The Great Tree of Avalon by T.A. Baron but put it aside before Christmas. I think I needed a break from reading. I have a few other books started too, Harry Potter 5, Good Omens and a Paul Gallico collection of his classic short stories including The Snow Goose.
I found two of the books in the City of Ember series at a used bookstore so I am excited to see how that story continues. The movie based on the first book was OK. It could have been better. It is funny how Hollywood changes the story from the book for the movie. Not a fan of the changing stuff, I have to say.
I plan to continue my education of reading other author's books. It certainly has inspired me to write more. To wander bookstores visualizing my future book on the new release table up front or picture where my book would be on the shelf alphabetically. The week before Christmas I volunteered to gift wrap books for charity at a well known bookstore. One day a woman bought 22 books for a church group. So as I was wrapping all of them I imagined that one day someone would buy 22 copies of my book too. Very empowering.
I really must clean these glasses!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sunrise in the Outer Banks
Two days in a row I have had the wonderful opportunity to walk on the beach in Emerald Isle early in the morning. Yesterday I walked and wandered for almost 3 hours which resulted in a horrendous sunburn on my neck and shoulders. Its late October, why I am getting sunburn? Today I started out earlier, didn't walk as far and sat on the sand thinking and pondering while the sun struggled to peek out behind heavy clouds. It succeeded a couple of times, spreading yellow and pink light in several directions. Once I looked back and saw the "Jesus Light" streaming down in multi-faceted rays. I call it that because it reminds me of the the rays of light in the old paintings of biblical scenes. Eventually the clouds won and the sun lost so I headed back to the house. Seashell treasures clinking in my pockets, pants wet to the knees, pelicans sweeping over the waves in graceful maneuvers, just beautiful. This morning before my walk we saw a pod of dolphins cutting through the waves like a hot knife through butter. Their unique shapes dark against the blue gray ocean. Although they passed by in a matter of minutes, it was clear we had been touched by their divine essence.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Snow on Deer
A few days I go I woke up really early and it was still dark outside. I had set the alarm for 6 am as part of my new work plan but I hit the snooze button three times so it was 6:18 when I finally turned it off. I fell back asleep and had the most amazing dream. Several days later the imagery and emotion is still with me. It was as if I was actually there and it felt so real. The overall feeling was one of awe and breathtaking beauty.
The dream was not very clear in the beginning, who I was with or exactly where I was going but the impression was that I with a male friend and we were driving in Pennsylvania to visit my family or visit where I grew up. The road felt familiar. It was nighttime and there was clean freshly fallen snow everywhere. The stars were out. We stopped along side the road at the top of a driveway to somewhere I knew. Also not very clear. I got out of the truck and stepped into a few inches of fresh powdery white sparkling snow. I looked down at my feet amazed at how beautiful it was. I did not feel cold or at any time think of cold. I was talking to someone, a 3rd person who greeted us, and I saw movement in the fringe of the forest. There was moonlight illuminating the new snow, the road and the harvested cornfield across the road. The edge of the trees on our side of the road were still in shadow.
I saw a small form run out of the trees heading right towards me. I recognized it was a small deer or a fawn. The creature bounded gracefully towards me. I leaned down with my hands outstretched as if to welcome it, scoop it up into my arms and hug it. I felt an immense surge of love. It ran straight for me and veered slightly to pass me but not before it brushed against my leg and my outstretched hand. I felt soft fur and a light dusting of snow before it bounded across the road disappearing into the cornfield. I couldn't speak or move, I barely breathed. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw more forms exiting the forest in waves of grace and agility. Many more deer in all sizes flew past me, dusted in pure white snow, glistening like jewels in the moonlight, not stopping, but crossing the road and disappearing into the broken cornstalks. Some came so close to me I felt their fur brush me as they passed quietly, barely making a sound in their surge forward. Then the wave was over and complete silence filled the air.
Nobody spoke. The cornfield rippled slightly in the distance. I looked up and saw thousands of stars in the black sky. I didn't see the moon, only instinctively knew it was moonlight illuminating the night. When I brought my eyes back down to the cornfield it was quite still and there was no more movement where the deer had gone. I woke up shortly after that with the feeling I had witnessed something truly inspiring and meaningful. Life changing even.
The night before this dream I had laid in bed meditating and I asked my Spirit Family to help me release any emotions or negative memories that were possibly holding me back. I suspect this was that release because I felt so light, loved and awestruck by the beauty of the whole scene. I've researched the symbolism in the dream and the deer, snow and moonlight all indicate a good omen. One statement in my dream research really stood out: "To dream that you find something in the snow, suggests that you are exploring and accessing your unused potential, abilities, and talents. You have uncovered some hidden talent and ability within yourself. It may also indicate forgiving yourself or others".
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